Calendar
Did you see the New York Times article everyone is talking about (“When Uber and Airbnb go public, San Francisco will drown in millionaires,” March 7), on how the 2019 IPO boom in the Bay Area is going to make the housing affordability crisis even worse?
Just another reason to join us for a discussion with local author and highly successful housing activist, Randy Shaw!
We will discuss his new book: “Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America” and particularly how it relates to Richmond.
Together we will have a discussion about how to address the challenges Richmond is facing during this ongoing housing crisis, and how to fight racial and economic inequalities in our city. We need solutions to bring more affordable housing to our working- and middle-class communities, and we need local government to encourage and cultivate more inclusive neighborhoods.
This is your time to participate in this conversation. It takes a city to fix our housing crisis!
More info about Randy’s work can be found at https://generationpricedout.com
Big Green Wave Headed West Headed Your Way!
BFUU will share information on the Green New Deal, host a panel of local leaders, and provide time for discussion of local strategies for educating the public and getting politicians to endorse the Green New Deal.
Sponsored by BFUU Social Justice Committee
Welcome to our 2019 schedule of literary conversations! These events take place on 10 indoor stages throughout Downtown Berkeley and on the San Francisco Chronicle Stage in the Outdoor Fair. Indoor events are accessed via a $10 Priority Ticket to guarantee your seat (link beside each event below) or with a $15 General Admission Wristband covering all events, all weekend, on a space-available basis. Since some events fill up, we recommend Priority Tickets for your top choices.
A few of the more political and social justice related talks (scan all the talks and get tickets here):
The Heart of Hate
Bradley Hart, Bill Ong Hing, Arjun Sethi, moderated by Dennis J. Bernstein 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM
The Uninhabitable Earth
David Wallace-Wells interviewed by Julian Brave NoiseCat 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM
From Captivity to Power: A Remarkable Story of Women Rising Up
Julia Flynn Siler interviewed by Lauren Schiller 1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
The Unbreakable Human Spirit: Albert Woodfox on Survival in Solitary
Albert Woodfox interviewed by Shane Bauer 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen called on 17 fellow refugee writers from across the globe to shed light on their experiences. The result is The Displaced, a powerful dispatch from the individual lives behind current headlines, with proceeds to support the International Rescue Committee. Join authors Viet Thanh Nguyen, Joseph Azam, Meron Hadero, and Somdeng Danny Thongsee for a reading and panel discussion. Hosted by Michael Tran.
Today the world faces an enormous refugee crisis: 68.5 million people fleeing persecution and conflict from Myanmar to South Sudan and Syria, a staggering figure more substantial than the flight of Jewish and other Europeans during World War II and beyond anything the world has seen in this generation. As this crisis mounts, today’s U.S. anti-immigrant policies have particularly impacted refugees from Southeast Asian, Muslim, and Latin American countries. New threats of U.S. deportations have risen. Since early October, U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement has rounded up over a hundred Cambodian refugees with deportation orders, making these the largest raids ever to target the Cambodian community. Nearly 2,000 Cambodian refugees are at risk of being unlawfully arrested. It is through presenting the powerful testimony of individuals experiencing refugee life that OACC strives to help shed more light on the challenges facing vulnerable communities living among us.
This program is co-sponsored by Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Eastwind Books Multicultural Services, Asian Health Services, Asian Prisoners Support Committee, and Southeast Asian Resource and Action Center.
Free, RSVP online: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/panel-with-author-viet-thanh-nguyen-tickets-58341543126
NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:
occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
Welcome & Introductions
Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
Announcements
(Optional) Discussion Topic
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
This is a pre-publication launch for The Battle for People’s Park, due out mid-month from Berkeley’s own Heyday Books. Get an early copy, and meet author Tom Dalzell. Join us, fifty years after, for this “only in Berkeley” event!
In eyewitness testimonies and hundreds of remarkable photographs, The Battle for People’s Park, Berkeley 1969 commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of one of the most searing conflicts that closed out the tumultuous 1960s: the Battle for People’s Park. In April 1969, a few Berkeley activists planted the first tree on a University of California-owned, abandoned city block on Telegraph Avenue. Hundreds of people from all over the city helped build the park as an expression of a politics of joy. The University was appalled, and warned that unauthorized use of the land would not be tolerated; and on May 15, which would soon be known as Bloody Thursday, a violent struggle erupted, involving thousands of people. Hundreds were arrested, martial law was declared, and the National Guard was ordered by then-Governor Ronald Reagan to crush the uprising and to occupy the entire city. The police fired shotguns against unarmed students. A military helicopter gassed the campus indiscriminately, causing schoolchildren miles away to vomit. One man died from his wounds. Another was blinded. The vicious overreaction by Reagan helped catapult him into national prominence. Fifty years on, the question still lingers: Who owns the Park?
A 6-week series to help us develop a deeper analysis and to call attention to the kinds of changes needed in the City’s budget and policies.
4/15 – Housing
4/22 – Economy
4/29 – Education
5/6 – Public Health
5/13 – Neighborhood Life
5/20 – Public Safety
The first week’s workshop on the Housing Indicators is the first of a 6-week series to help us develop a deeper analysis and to call attention to the kinds of changes needed in the City’s budget and policies.
Join us for this deeper dive into the Equity Indicators Report for the City of Oakland. Released last year, it clearly shows the effects of white supremacy on our community. Oakland posted a failing score of 33.5 out of a possible 100 across all indicators. This was the lowest score of all cities that participated in this national study.
Carroll Fife, the founder of Black Women & Elected Leadership, the Executive Director of Oakland ACCE, and one of the founding members of Community READY Corps, will join us as a guest speaker to provide some deeper analysis of the report’s findings and point us to actual solutions that will advance racial justice and equity in our housing market.
Because of the COVID pandemic we will be meeting virtually via Zoom on the first Monday of the month.
Meeting ID: 828 0976 4186
The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a
grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality.
In alliance with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) we organized the October 23, 2010 labor and community rally for Justice for Oscar Grant. On that day the ILWU shut down the Bay Area ports in solidarity. Our mission is to educate, organize and mobilize people against police and state repression. Sisters and brothers! The Oscar Grant Committee invites you to join us in this vital struggle.
We meet on the 1st Monday of each month
You can join our discussion list by sending a blank (doesn’t even need a subject) email to
oscargrantcommittee-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
KAISER HAS LOST ITS WAY. IT’S ON US TO GET KAISER BACK ON TRACK.
JOIN US FOR A RALLY TO SAVE KAISER GARDENERS!
LABOR, COMMUNITY, ELECTED OFFICIALS AND INTERFAITH LEADERS WILL JOIN US
AND SEIU-UHW FOR THEIR MAY 7TH/MAY 8TH ACTIONS AT ONE KAISER PLAZA,
OAKLAND, CA AGAINST KAISER PERMANENTE. ONCE KNOWN AS A LEADER FOR GOOD
JOBS, KAISER IS NOW AGGRESSIVELY OUTSOURCING JOBS TO LESS EXPERIENCED
WORKERS FOR POVERTY WAGES AND NO BENEFITS.
TUESDAY, MAY 7TH
· 5PM: RALLY/PRESS CONFERENCE
· 6PM: SET UP GARDENING AREA/SET UP TENTS
· 9PM: CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
Let Libby Schaaf know how we can fix Oakland’s broken budget when she presents her budget at the Oakland City Council Meeting on May 7th. Tell her we need to Defund OPD and Invest in Community!!
[Event] Defund OPD and Invest in Communityhttps://t.co/aEDPOYzE6Z
— Indybay (@Indybay) May 6, 2019
Healing Justice, explores the causes and consequences of the current North American justice system and its effect on marginalized communities. The film walks back through the history of violence that has led to our current system, bringing into focus the histories of trauma – on a personal, interpersonal, community, and generational level. This powerful documentary addresses the school-to-prison pipeline, the need for comprehensive criminal justice reform, and the importance of healing and restorative practices.
Designed for dialogue, Healing Justice is meant to prompt questions and open conversations, exploring trauma, justice, and healing:
• What is justice, really?
• How do our current structures discount and dehumanize young people of color as well as our poorest and most vulnerable citizens?
• How does trauma impact us personally and interpersonally, as a community and throughout generations?
• How do these histories affect who is perceived as a ‘perpetrator’ and a ‘victim’ of violence?
• Why is healing on both individual and collective levels so important – and so often overlooked – components of justice?
• How can restorative practices, such as restorative justice, be used to shift the way we address crime and violence in our communities to produce safer, healthier, thriving communities for all?
Join us on Tuesday, May 7, 6:30 PM at the New Parkway Theater for a screening of Healing Justice! After-show discussion lead by the filmmaker Shakti Bulter and a participant in the film, Malachi Scott!
You are being watched.
Whether through your phone or your car or your credit card, caught on a CCTV camera or tracked through your online viewing history, government agencies know where you are, and are quietly collecting your most intimate, mundane, and personal information.
Is this even legal?
Habeas Data shows how the explosive growth of surveillance technology has outpaced our understanding of the ethics, mores, and laws of privacy.
Award-winning tech reporter Cyrus Farivar makes the case by taking ten historic court decisions that defined our privacy rights and matching them against the capabilities of modern technology. It’s an approach that combines the charge of a legal thriller with the shock of the daily headlines.
Throughout the history of capitalism, wealthy elites from a handful of countries have managed to impose their dominance across the world, subjecting people, land, and resources in the Global South to intense forms of exploitation. Socialists call this system imperialism, and see it as a central feature of the capitalist global economy. But it’s often difficult to see how exactly imperialism works, who it benefits, or how it manages to maintain control.
Join East Bay DSA on Tuesday, May 7th as we discuss imperialism in the 21st century, its roots in European colonialism, and as we set the stage for a future discussion about tearing it down.
Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrance and restrooms
Required Readings
See the readings that we’ll be discussing after a brief introduction from our members.
Buy Tickets 415.392.4400
CITY ARTS & LECTURES
Anand Giridharadas is the author of Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, which explores the ways in which the global elite’s efforts to “change the world” through philanthropy preserve the status quo and obscure their own role in causing the problems they later seek to solve. His past books include India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking and The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, which has been adapted into a film, to be released in 2019. He is also an editor-at-large for TIME, an on-air political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, as well as a visiting scholar at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. He is a former columnist and correspondent for The New York Times, as well as for The Atlantic, The New Republic, and The New Yorker.
Courtney E. Martin is the author of five books, including Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists and The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream. She is also the co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network and has collaborated with a wide range of organizations, including TED, The Aspen Institute, and the Obama Foundation. She won the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics and holds an honorary doctorate from ArtCenter College of Design.
Don’t use #uber, #lyft tomorrow! Drivers on strike! #LA, #SanDiego, #SanFrancisco, #Chicago, #Atlanta, #Connecticut, #WashingtonDC, #Philadelphia, #NewYork, #Boston pic.twitter.com/bd66vTVnGk
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) May 8, 2019
On May 8th, the NewSchools Venture Fund (NSVF) will hold its annual conference in Oakland. NSVF — funded by billionaire donors is a venture capital fund that works to expand charter school proliferation in local communities like Oakland. Unchecked charter growth already costs OUSD schools over $57 million a year. Oakland kids deserve better — and Oakland won’t let NSVF hold a conference in our Town without a response.
Join us in the streets on May 8th as the conference begins, and we’ll tell NSVF to get out of Oakland! Educators, parents, students, and community members are all welcome and encouraged. We want to show that working class solidarity is strong in Oakland, so let’s show up in force! Bring any signs and DSA/OEA swag you have!
OEA will be organizing speakers, music, and providing food.
The Ella Baker Center’s monthly member meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 8th; the second week of May in order to accommodate for the May Day rally happening tomorrow, Wednesday, May 1st.
This month’s member meeting will include a new member orientation. If you are interested in learning about our membership, the Ella Baker Center in general, or what is happening with criminal justice reform at a state level we invite you to join us.
This is an open meeting and a free dinner will be provided. Please join us and bring a friend.
Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay.
We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body cameras and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government.
We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.
Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.
Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), opposing Urban Shield (now gone!) and pushing back against ICE with local legislation.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:
Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/ Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy
Check out our sister site DeportICE.
“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”
Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment. Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in Richmond and Alameda County. To help slow down the encroaching police state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.
Some agenda items of interest:
Pawlik Investigation Update
The Commission will discuss CPRA’s recent findings on the Pawlik investigation. Karen
Tom and Joan Saupe will review the process. This is a new item. (Attachment 4)
IX. R-02: Searches of Individuals on Probation and Parole
The Commission will review an amended version of R-02: Searches of Individuals on
Probation or Parole, and will discuss the status of collaboration with OPD.
X. Oakland Black Officers Association (OBOA) Letter
The Commission will discuss allegations in the OBOA letter in the Oakland Post suggesting
disparate and/or racist implications for OPD hiring and discipline practices, and may hear
from a representative on behalf of the OBOA.